Between Pumpkins and Secrets
"Really, thanks for helping; who would be the fool using magic of that scale around here?" Hagrid said with a big smile while the five children helped him clean the ice that covered his pumpkins. Fortunately, the frozen layer was not actually destructive; it had only hardened the outer skin, so with a bit of water and patience it would not cause problems.
Grover was scrubbing the surface with a damp cloth while Neville, trembling but focused, held a small watering can to pour water little by little over the pumpkins. Percy and Harry were carefully striking the ice on the ground, breaking it around the roots and stems, and Ron walked from the side of the cabin with a bucket full of fertilizer, wearing an expression truly tormented by the smell.
"Yes, who could be the idiot; what do you think, Harry?" Percy said, looking at his brother with that teasing smile that always annoyed him.
"I wonder the same thing," Harry replied with an annoyed look directed at Percy, narrowing his eyes as if he wanted to warn him of something without words.
"They're good kids, good kids," Hagrid repeated with almost contagious happiness as he watched the five boys helping him. "Hey, since you're here, I made a delicious rock cake; would you like some?" he asked with a sincerely cheerful smile, perhaps because he had the chance to get closer to Harry, or maybe because he was seeing such kind-hearted young people helping him.
The four looked at the kind giant and nodded without hesitation.
"Of course," they said in unison as they lightly wiped the sweat from their foreheads after the work.
Hagrid indicated they could go inside the cabin, although they first stopped by a water basin at the side to wash their hands.
As soon as Hagrid opened the door, a huge dog leaped toward him with obvious joy.
"Off, Fang," Hagrid said quickly. However, as soon as the dog obeyed, it changed direction and pounced toward the children. "Ah, don't worry; Fang is friendly, he won't hurt you, although he is a bit clingy," he commented as Grover and Neville took several steps back purely by reflex, trying to get away from the huge animal.
Although in Neville's case, his panic seemed to be toward all dogs in general; a trauma that had already become clear the previous night. Harry and Percy could not blame him.
"It's nice to see a normal dog in this school for a change," Percy commented with sarcasm, as if remembering a certain three-headed creature.
Hagrid seemed to hear that. "Eh; normal, what are you talking about?" he asked with curiosity as they all entered the cabin and he pulled from a pot a huge cake that, upon falling onto the plate, produced a sound so hard it drew everyone's attention; a cake should not sound like that when touching a plate.
"Well, actually…" Harry hesitated for a moment. But looking at the good-natured giant, he thought there would be no problem sharing what had happened the previous night. He glanced at his companions for confirmation; they all nodded. Except Grover, who had not taken part in the adventure and now watched with a mix of confusion and anxiety.
Then Harry explained everything that had happened the previous night.
"Eh… you saw Fluffy?" Hagrid asked when the story ended.
Grover, listening, looked more and more shocked; his reaction was perhaps exaggerated, but his fear looked far too authentic.
"Fluffy?" Percy asked with a forced smile at such a… cute name for the enormous three-headed dog that had tried to devour them.
"Yes; he's mine. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard… ahem… something," Hagrid said, realizing he had almost said something he should not. "I bought him from a Greek in a pub," he added quickly, trying to shift the focus.
"Greek?" Grover asked, now completely interested. "Do you know who he was?" he insisted almost immediately.
"Wait; that's not important," Percy interrupted. Harry also nodded.
"So you know what he is hiding underneath," Harry said with great interest.
Hagrid's eyes widened like plates. "No, of course not; it's better you don't get involved in that place. That is something only Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel are concerned with," he said firmly. A second later, he froze and hit his mouth twice. "I should not have said that," he murmured in despair.
"Nicolas Flamel?" Harry repeated. He knew he had heard that name somewhere before.
Percy, for his part, had stopped paying attention. He was observing the rock cake with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. He took a bite and, for an instant, believed his teeth had been destroyed. To his relief, they had not; although now he could not put the cake back on the plate. He discreetly hid it in his pocket.
Harry tried to keep getting information out of Hagrid, but the giant refused to answer.
"It's better you don't get yourselves into trouble," Hagrid said firmly, shaking his head and completely closing off the topic.
That disappointed Percy and Harry, who were now even more interested in knowing what was hidden down there.
Upon leaving the cabin, Harry had a new determination: to find out what on earth was being kept there.
"It's something very valuable or very dangerous," Ron said as they walked through the corridors.
"Or both," Harry added.
"We could simply forget it; it really is something dangerous, and it's being protected by that great dog. It would be good to finish the school year with all our limbs intact," Neville said quickly, trembling just from remembering that place.
"Well, that's true; and Mom will be very upset if I show up missing an arm or a leg," Percy said while nodding, looking at his brother.
The fact that Percy was the voice of reason was so strange that Harry looked at him for a second, intrigued. But Percy did not seem to be acting weird, so he said nothing.
Grover, meanwhile, had been very thoughtful ever since leaving the cabin; especially because of what Hagrid had said about the Greek man.
"You go ahead; I have something to do," Grover said suddenly.
"Eh… yes, but the next class is joint with Hufflepuff," Percy said, looking at him.
"Yes, but… I forgot something. I'll catch up with you later," Grover replied before turning around and starting to run so fast that Percy widened his eyes slightly; Grover was supposed to have some issues with his legs, although Percy had never asked what kind. Seeing him run like that, at a speed even faster than Neville's, surprised him quite a lot.
But then he thought that, well, Neville wasn't really very fast, and comparing Grover's speed to his or Harry's didn't make sense either, since they were trained even if only irregularly.
Harry and Ron also watched Grover strangely, but said nothing out of courtesy.
"Maybe he really needs to go to the bathroom," Percy said while shrugging, giving it little importance.
Neville, however, turned around for just a second after seeing the direction Grover had taken. He was going straight toward the path they had come from, and the only area on that side was the outside of the castle, or more precisely, the area near the Forbidden Forest. Neville shook his head and decided not to get involved in anything weird, following the others toward the Great Hall.
…
A week later, Harry received his Nimbus 2000 broomstick from Professor McGonagall, right during breakfast. He also received a letter where she specified that he should not open the package there, since the other students would get jealous. Harry already had his own flying broom, altered by the magic of his Aunt Mor, but that was a family exception. School rules prohibited first-year students from bringing brooms, so receiving one officially was something special. Harry smiled with contained excitement; this was a confirmation that he had undoubtedly been accepted into the Quidditch team.
"A Nimbus 2000," Ron groaned with pure envy as he looked at Harry's letter. "I've never touched one, not even seen one up close."
Percy was also interested; he wanted to see the difference between that broom and the one his Aunt Mor had altered, as well as compare it to the one Mark used, which he had created himself.
The three of them stood up almost at the same time to go see the broom.
Just as they left, they ran into Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco Malfoy. All three tensed immediately upon seeing Percy alongside Harry and Ron; only Draco's pride kept them from running away. His smile returned when he remembered that if he managed to provoke Percy and make him hit him, they could get him expelled. That restored his confidence and he stepped forward with that venomous smile.
Malfoy looked at the package Harry was carrying, examining it without touching it, as if getting too close disgusted him. The shape of the package made it obvious what it was. Malfoy's expression twisted between jealousy and resentment.
"So you finally did it, didn't you, Potter? First-years aren't allowed to have a broom," he said with a victorious smile, as if he expected to watch Harry dig his own grave.
"Why are you so stupid? Are your parents cousins or something like that?" Percy blurted out immediately with visible annoyance.
"What?" Draco exclaimed, startled and red with anger.
"That's what I heard. According to my aunt, everyone who calls themselves pureblood has that habit of keeping their blood so 'pure' they end up marrying relatives. That happened with your parents, right?" Percy replied with a teasing smile.
Harry and Ron barely managed to hold back their laughter.
"How dare you disrespect my family," Draco spat furiously, his pride shattered. His voice echoed through the hallway, and some curious students stopped to watch.
"Now that I think about it, your father was in prison. And a man so pale and delicate… my friend Arthur says that in prison he'd surely have been someone's girlfriend; whatever that means," Percy added without losing his smile.
Draco's hands trembled with pure rage.
Harry watched his brother. Sometimes Percy said things that could enrage anyone, but there were moments when it was extremely useful. Ron was laughing shamelessly in Malfoy's face, enjoying the spectacle; after all, if anyone hated Malfoy more than the Potter-Jackson brothers, it was Ron Weasley.
When Draco was about to pull out his wand in a fit of anger, a familiar voice sounded behind them: it was Professor Flitwick.
"You're not fighting, are you, children?" the small professor asked as he approached with quick steps.
Draco, as if seeing his savior, spoke immediately. "Potter has been sent a broomstick, professor," he said with hope, wishing Harry would be punished so he could vent his rage.
But to his surprise and complete disappointment, Professor Flitwick did not seem worried.
"Yes, I'm aware," he said calmly, observing the package in Harry's hands. "Professor McGonagall told me. And what a broom she got you, Potter," he asked with genuine interest.
"A Nimbus 2000, professor," Harry said, almost bursting with laughter at the horrified look on Malfoy's face. "And it's thanks to Malfoy that I have it."
Draco's expression shifted from absolute fury to pure confusion.
Professor Flitwick whistled lightly upon hearing the model and let them continue on their way. Harry walked toward the stairs, followed by Percy and Ron, who kept laughing about the face Malfoy had made.
"Well, it's true, right? If Malfoy hadn't taken and thrown Neville's Remembrall, you wouldn't have gotten the broom," Percy said as they walked.
"So you think it's a reward for breaking the rules," said a slightly irritated voice behind them.
The three of them turned around. Hermione was there, looking at them with a mix of disapproval and annoyance fixed on the package Harry was carrying.
"Are you following us?" Percy asked immediately, looking at her suspiciously.
"What? Of course not," she replied quickly, though she had a faint blush on her cheeks as she glanced at Harry for an instant. "I was just passing by."
"Weren't you not talking to us? It's better if you keep it that way," Ron said brusquely.
Hermione gave him an irritated look, turned around, and continued walking with her nose in the air. But halfway down the hall, she paused slightly; she glanced at Harry, who was still watching her, confused.
"You… how you did… never mind," she said before continuing on her way.
The three of them were completely confused.